The present invention generally relates to a method of constructing a two-dimensional substantial image, and more particularly to an image forming method, i. e., in a computer, the structure of honeycomb elements is used to construct an inputted image by redividing it into blocks, then a substantial image for practical use is formed on the basis of the above reconstructed image.
In ancient and contemporary architecture, mosaics made up from substantially the same square building materials (such as ceramic tiles, glass, etc.) are commonly seen, for example, mosaics made up from small square ceramic tiles or natural stones came into being before the Christian Era. In the contemporary times, on the walls of a public place and a large building, the architectural art of mosaics made up from ceramic tiles, natural stones and even from metal patchwork is more popular. Besides, in the inside of a building, such as the floor, the walls of a toilet, etc., various images (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9csubstantial imagexe2x80x9d) made up from decoration materials can be often seen. Such an organic combination of architecture and art gives people a plentiful and wonderful visual feeling. Moreover, such a substantial image is durable and will not be easy to damage, and it has a great practical value.
But the tesserae used for a conventional substantial image are square or almost square, of uniform size or similar size. Sometimes, at the junction of two colors, the junction line is made to be more smooth by cutting a tessera off along the diagonal. Though such a mending method is used, its square structural form still makes the whole image appear dull.
In order to make some changes in such a dull image, sometimes, besides that a large number of small square tesserae are used in a substantial image, a small number of large square tesserae are used. Sometimes, for the necessity of constructing an image, square tesserae have to be arranged in a curved shape, it will unavoidably causes many triangular or trapezoidal gaps that cannot be mended. Using square tesserae to fulfill various artistic conceptions of an artist will put him into a dilemma without doubt. However, some very fine crafted creations (such as ancient mosaics) looking like seamless were found in history, but each small tessera used was fulfilled by using a large amount of manpower and it took a lot of time. Obviously, it is not suitable to the requirements for a large scale, high efficiency, even mechanization and automation of modern architecture or room decoration.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a method of constructing a substantial image, which can reasonably divide an original image into tesserae that are easy to quickly and efficiently put together, so as to be suitable for large-scale industrial operation as well as maintaining the artistic integrity of the image used.
To fulfill the above object, the present invention uses a kind of special honeycomb structure elements, at first an image is decomposed into hexagonal pixels with the aid of great computing and storing capacity of a computer and by using the programs developed by the inventor, then a large number of honeycomb structure elements of various shapes are combined, and a required complete image is formed by putting together the honeycomb structure elements. After the required image composed of the honeycomb structure elements is formed, the corresponding elements are selected from the prepared honeycomb structure elements (such as ceramic tiles or glass, etc.) of various colors by using the mode of mechanization or manual labor so as to fulfill the formation of a substantial image on a base, or directly draw colors on the base based on the honeycomb structure elements.
The method of constructing a two-dimensional substantial image using honeycomb structure elements according to the above conception of the present invention comprises the following steps:
inputting a required image to a computer;
dividing the square grid structure pixels of the image into groups to form new hexagonal pixels containing a plurality of grid structure pixels;
using at least one hexagonal pixel to form a plurality of honeycomb structure elements of various different shapes and different colors, of which the color of the hexagonal pixel is an average value of the plurality of grid structure pixels contained therein;
storing the plurality of the formed honeycomb structure elements for future use;
making operation by dividing the image into blocks according to the colors of the inputted image, then using the stored honeycomb structure elements according to the required shapes;
forming a new image composed of the honeycomb structure elements and outputting it;
putting together the elements on a substantial base in certain proportion or drawing a color substantial image according to the outputted image.
A substantial image constructed from the honeycomb structure elements of the present invention can not only be quickly formed, but can also maintain the artistic quality of the originally inputted image, it can also give people a visual feeling of irregularity, and it can fulfill tight seaming through a modernized mechanism.